Page 12 of The Bond That Burns

Blake didn’t move, but I saw his jaw clench. “I’m sorry. I thought you wanted to speak to me. Well, I’m here now.”

For a moment, I held my breath. Was it too much to hope my threats had gotten through to Viktor?

Viktor looked down at me, sneered, then moved to the door.

As his uncle crossed the threshold, Blake glanced at me briefly but said nothing, simply pulled the door shut behind him.

The key turned in the lock and I was alone again.

CHAPTER 3 - BLAKE

I stood rigidly as Viktor paced the opulent chamber inside the Black Keep. The heavy curtains were drawn, muting out the sunlight and giving the room an oppressive glow.

Viktor’s long strides carried him back and forth across the carpet in front of the hearth, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

He was angry. Didn’t take a genius to figure out that much.

“She resisted me,” Viktor said without preamble. “Do you even understand how rare that is?”

I shrugged. “She’s stubborn, not special. I have no doubt in your ability to get through to her eventually, Uncle.”

Viktor stopped mid-step, turning to face me with an icy glare. “Who gave her permission to learn thrallguard?”

“I wasn’t privy to the meeting where it was decided,” I said slowly. “But I would assume Headmaster Kim was involved.”

Viktor gnashed his teeth. “That blightborn-loving fool. Did he even think to consult me?”

I highly doubted Kim harbored any undue love for blightborn. Or even for Pendragon. But I said nothing.

I tilted my head slightly. “The riders of old were all trained in thrallguard, weren’t they? Perhaps they simply based the decision on that precedent?” I only knew this because Rodriguez had told me. “Pendragondidalmost die on her first day because of how susceptible she was, after all.”

Viktor’s lips curled into a sneer. “None of that would have occurred if you had kept your women in check. Don’t lecture me on history I bore witness to, boy. Those riders were loyal to their houses. They knew the cost of disobedience. Does this one?”

My jaw tightened. “Thrallguard lessons won’t make her untouchable. She’s just a girl playing with fire.”

My uncle’s eyes narrowed. “A girl who woke a dragon, Blake. Do not underestimate her.”

It seemed as if he was the one who’d already done that, but I held my tongue.

“She needs special handling,” my uncle said, as if to himself. He glanced at me. “What I’d like to do is beat the answers out of her. I’ve never met a blightborn who could not be broken with the proper...persuasion. I could drag the truth from her lips with pain until there was nothing left but submission. But...”

I waited a moment.

“But?” I finally asked cautiously.

His lips thinned. “She claims the dragon would know.”

“Ah. That is...” I searched for the right word. “Unfortunate. And do you believe her?”

“I don’t know what to believe. It’s entirely possible she can communicate with it. That much is not at question. We need that dragon. She’s our only connection to it, as it stands now. The Avaris will try to thwart us every step of the way. We need her obedient. We need her compliant.”

I decided not to mention there might be complications with that.

Viktor looked at me. “I want to know everything about this girl, Blake. What she knows, what she’s hiding, and more importantly, what she cando. She’s hid things from us. From the very start. She came out of nowhere. It’s time we found out who she really is. You’ll report to me regularly. I expect progress.”

I tried to look confident. “Of course.”

“For now, we’ll proceed with caution.”

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